Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Devil, devices and the journalist's diaspora: Answers I'd like to know

Three questions for the 3rd day of the week:

Is the devil advertising?

AdWeek conducted a poll (here) in March to see who John and Jill Q. Public blame for the current economic crisis...in the sense that the blameworthy "caused people to buy things they couldn't afford." More than two-thirds found blame with advertising agencies...the highest percentage among all other suspects listed. So, though people are seemingly more aware than ever that they are being continually sold something, apparently we all feel powerless to resist the temptation toward overconsumption and a lust for things. Either that or it's "those other people" who can't resist selling their financial soul on advertising's lure. If only agencies could

convince clients that we're responsible for all that consumption...maybe we'd get a little sympathy?

When will TVs + computers become one?

Time was when web designers had to ask themselves whether to use Adobe's Flash toolset based on best guesses (and some data) about the penetration of the Flash player among target audiences' web browsers. Now, it looks like TV producers will get to ask that question. Adobe announced an agreement with most major TV set chip producers to include Flash on their standard TV chipsets. (here). This could usher in an era of truly interactive TV applications...just like those available on computers. Which makes one wonder whether the idea of a separate name for 'monitors' still has any relevance.

Does the future of news include journalist nomads?

Anderson Cooper, Walter Conkrite...journalism has always had it's personalities. But in the midst of the continuing erosion of newspaper's viability (and influence?), one might wonder how the news can be reported credibly without an institution to organize it all or a powerful personal brand to establish credibility. Well, muckrack.com brings together the best of personality journalists and the emerging Twitterverse. Now you can follow all your favorite investigative--and celebrity--news figures from the comfort of your Twitter-enabled device.

Bonus 4th + 5th questions: Has Twitter jumped the shark? Or has Oprah?

We knew Twitter had something of a bubble mentality surrounding it when Oprah had 35,000 followers without having ever uttered a tweet. Now that she--and every other celebrity on the planet--see twitter for what it is...a 140-character space in the fragmented media landscape in which to suck at people's time...is Twitter's Fail Whale destined to make more frequent breaches? The Orca, er, Oprah affect, it would appear is alive and well. (Chart below indicating Twitter share of internet traffic on the day of Oprah's first tweet.) With almost half the Twitter following of the POTUS, Oprah tells her nearly 500,000 followers about working out, reading the paper and going to bed...remarkably ordinary. (Oprah's twitter posts here) Announcement of Twitter's new policy limiting the number of followers, unless your Oprah, here)